New chamber president enjoyed years as acrobat
DOWNTOWN Paul Hortobagyi positioned his fingers on the keys of the piano and allowed the melodies of “Military Polonaise” freely flow.
But as his fingers moved to the rhythm of the Frédéric Chopin masterpiece, so did the curtain behind him, unveiling the true source of the music — Allen Robert Gross, the conductor of the Santa Monica Symphony.
“It was a metaphor of how many times we are in the limelight and not the people who do the grunt work,” Hortobagyi, the incoming chairman of the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce, said about his performance at the installation dinner earlier this month. “I wanted to dedicate myself to bringing those people to the limelight.”
Recognition of the little-known workers, the ones who polish the banisters, clean the floors and answer the phones — it was the theme of the installation dinner and one that will guide Hortobagyi’s term as chairman, which will begin effective July 1.
The Hungarian native comes to the chairmanship role after nearly 30 years in the hospitality industry, serving the past three years as the general manager for the Le Merigot Hotel on Ocean Avenue. He recently completed an eight-year stint serving on the Board of Directors for the Santa Monica Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Hortobagyi was contacted last year about fulfilling the chairman duties by the outgoing leader Tom Larmore, one of the principals of law firm Harding Larmore Mullen Jakle Kutcher & Kozal LLP. Then serving as the treasurer for the CVB, Hortobagyi spent several days considering Larmore’s offer, wanting to be sure that he would be able to juggle his commitments to both the hotel and the chamber.
“He’s well acquainted with the business and economic issues around the city,” Larmore said.“His business being the general manager of one of the major hotels is an important position … and we would like to have someone whose position and whose name are well recognized around the business community.”
While Hortobagyi spent nearly three decades in the industry, he didn’t immediately jump into hotel work following graduation from a hospitality school in Budapest, instead joining his father as a teeterboard acrobat.
He would spend the next 10 years performing across Europe, from Spain to France to Italy to Germany. Coming from a long line of teeterboard acrobats, Hortobagyi was a household name at the time. Both Hortobagyi’s parents performed for the queen of England in 1947.
“I didn’t want to continue (hospitality),” said Hortobagyi about his decision to enter acrobatic work.
After performing in Europe for six years, Hortobagyi and his troop uprooted to the United States where they continued their act for another few years, the group ultimately disbanding.
It was then when Hortobagyi decided to close the acrobatic chapter on his life and begin a career in hospitality, landing his first job as the chef at the Villa Nova restaurant in St. Petersberg, Fla. in 1979.
The job would lead to a long career in the industry, moving on to become a regional executive chef, a restaurant general manager and eventually the owner of two restaurants in Orange County — Arnie’s Manhattan and New York City Bistro, both of which are no longer under his control.
The passion in the hospitality field comes from his roots in Budapest where even during communism, tourism was strong, Hortobagyi said, adding that he was greatly influenced by his father, a man who spoke seven languages fluently.
Hortobagyi himself can speak four — English, German, French and Italian.
“Even during Iron Curtain times, we had pretty darn good tourism from the western world,” he said.
LEADING THE CHAMBER The chamber has undergone a number of changes the past few years, including strengthening its relationship with City Hall and turnover in its CEO position — former president Jim Lynch left last year and was replaced by Laurel Rosen.
A long-time member of the chamber, Hortobagyi said among his priorities will be to expand the organization’s membership, attracting new businesses by showing how the chamber can be a good ally.
“The chamber can really be an intricate part of their success and one of the greatest networking grounds,” he said.
With a long history in hospitality, Hortobagyi added that he wants to paint a realistic picture of the hotel industry, which he believes can be perceived as an entity that does nothing but “take, take, take.”
“It’s an incredible amount what we donate to various organizations,,” he said. “We go above and beyond and support whatever we can to make our city better.”
Rosen said that Hortobagyi’s interaction with hotel and tourism will help the chamber maintain strong ties with the CVB.
“Our hotel partners are very important to us as business members,” she said.
She added that Hortobagyi has a good relationship with city officials and will help promote some of the issues that are important to the chamber, including workforce housing.
“He certainly employs a good number of people who come from outside the community,” she said. “He can bring that awareness into the work that he does.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 23, 2008. Read the original PDF.